Taylor sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes to erase the blurred vision. There was somebody in his room. He grabbed his glasses, which he hated, but still had to wear for another year until his eyesight from the accident was back to normal. His eyes widened as the image came into view. Carter was standing at the foot of his bed holding his journal. He jumped out of bed and ran over to grab it from her. "Dammit Carter. I fell for the whole sleepwalking routine once and I m not going to again."
Carter slapped his wrist and growled at him. "Meyashumbaba!"
"Uhm. And Carter is dreaming that she s a witch doctor." He took a step back and watched as Carter turned around and left his room. She walked slowly down the stairs, feeling the walls on her way down. Then she went into the living room and plopped down on the couch. Taylor sat down next to her and looked back and forth from her face to the tv. It was as if she was watching something... "Ok so Carter... I know I m not supposed to wake you up. Although I ve never understood why."
Carter snorted and laughed slightly. Then she slapped her hand down on Taylor s thigh and put her head down on his knee.
His eyes widened again as Isaac walked in carrying a carton of Ben and Jerry s Chubby Hubby. "Why is Carter s face in your crotch?"
"She s sleeping."
Isaac sat down in an armchair. "Ok yeah. So why is her hand on your manly organs?"
Taylor looked down and blushed. "I m not supposed to wake her up. She s still kinda sleepwalking."
"So just move her freakin hand... slash head."
Taylor nodded. "Good idea." Taylor slid his hand under her jaw and pushed upward causing Carter to roll off of the couch and land on the floor. "Oops." He looked up at Isaac and blushed again.
"Good going." He laughed. "Dude that girl really can sleep."
"Yeah and her head is in Zac s shoe. That can t be healthy."
"So move her again."
Taylor shook his head. "Dude I can t just keep moving her. She ll wake up in a foreign place and go insane."
"And waking up with her face in your crotch or Zac s shoe won t do the same?"
"Good point." He bent over slowly and slid his arm under her knees and another around her back. Then he lifted her lightly and intended on taking her back to her bed. Unfortunately Carter didn t make it that far. Her eyes shot open and she screamed a blood curdling scream that could have woken the neighborhood. Taylor dropped her flat on the ground.
"SON OF A BITCH WHY WERE YOU HOLDING ME!?" She screamed as she rubbed her butt. "WHAT AM I DOING IN YOUR HOUSE!?"
"You were sleepwalking!"
"So let me sleep!"
Isaac shook his head. "Bad idea. You don t wanna know where your mouth was."
Carter turned to Taylor quickly. "Were you molesting me again?!"
"I VE NEVER TOUCHED YOU!... well... without you knowing it."
Carter straightened her hair and let out a frustrated sigh. "Crazy whacked out family. Carrying me around the house in my sleep... doing GOD KNOWS WHAT TO ME... and with your sexually frustrated brother watching."
"Where are you going?" Taylor asked as she stomped up the stairs.
"To Zac s room. He ll let me sleep in peace."
Isaac shrugged and sat down with his ice cream. "She calls us crazy and whacked out, and then she goes to sleep in Zac s room." Isaac looked up at the ceiling and talked to nobody. "And God Spammit I m not sexually frustrated!"
Taylor rolled his eyes. "You use the words God Spammit and you claim you aren t frustrated. That s funny."
"I got it from you, butt munch."
"Aha. Getting out the Beavis and Butthead insults now."
"Shut up."
"Bite me." Taylor rolled his eyes and went back upstairs.
Carter pushed the heavye doors open and shoved her way out of Sears. She got all of her Christmas shopping done and was happy about that. She was also happy that she got a parking space close to the mall. She had four combersome bags and her arms were killing her.
Walking quickly she made it to her car and reached into her pockets for the keys. But... they weren't there. "Shit." She muttered peering into the car, expecting to find them in the ignition behind the locked doors. But then she remembered putting them down in the bathroom of Mcdonalds where she stopping for a soda. "Shit again."
She cuddled her bags closer to her and hurried quickly toward the mall again. Before she got very far, she was stopped by the squeal of tires, and the pain of somebody smashing into her and shoving her to the ground.
Justine slammed the car door shut and thanked Tanis's mom for dropping them off at the mall. She looked around the parking lot noticing how busy it was and turned to Tanis. "Might I add that I hate Christmas shopping."
"Why? It's fun buying stuff for other people."
"Yeah I know. But it kinda sucks when you realize that you have one less person to shop for."
Tanis sighed. "Yeah I know." She glanced toward the Sears entrance of the mall. "Look. It's Carter."
"Great."
"I wonder who she's shopping for."
"Zac." Justine sighed.
"Probably handcuffs. Hey they have those furry ones at Hot Topic."
"He already has them."
"Ok I'm going to ignore that." She watched as Carter struggled with four large bags. She reached into her pocket and stopped dead in her tracks. Then she looked into her car and stomped her foot. "Looks like she locked herself out."
Justine laughed. "You know. As funny as that is. Think we should help her?"
Tanis nodded and they walked over to Carter. Seconds before they shouted her name, Carter stepped directly in front of a car that was backing out way too fast. Tanis gasped and pushed Carter out of the way before she even had time to think twice.
Carter's shoulder hit the ground hard and her bags flew out of her hands. She looked up to see Tanis brushing herself off. "Are you ok? That car backed out... you didn't see it."
The owner of the car left it in the middle of the parking lot, blocking traffic. She jumped out and ran over to where Carter lay on the ground with Tanis and Justine next to her. "Oh my god. I'm so sorry. Did I hit her?" She asked, kneeling down on the ground."
"I'm fine. You didn't hit me." Carter rubbed her shoulder and sat up. "I wasn't watching where I was going."
"No, it's my fault. My kids were arguing in the car and I was trying to get out of here too fast."
Justine put her hand on Carter's shoulder. "Are you sure you're ok? You hit the ground pretty hard."
"I just got banged up. I'll be ok. I left my keys in the Mcdonald's bathroom and I went back to get them."
Justine started gathering Carter's things while the woman volunteered to go inside and get her keys. Tanis helped Carter up. "I didn't mean to push you so hard but you weren't watching and the car would have hit you...
"I know. Thank you so much. I know this sounds cheesy and cliche but I want to repay you. You pretty much just saved me from the runaway speeding Christmas car."
Tanis laughed. "Taylor still has Gabi's journal right?"
"I think so. I dunno."
"Read it."
Carter nodded and Justine handed her the bags. "You got a lot of stuff. Who's the purple saran wrap for?"
"Zac. He has a thing for ... colored saran wrap. It's his stocking stuffer for this year."
Justine laughed. "Give him a hug for me ok?"
Carter smiled. "I will."
Tanis and Justine left into the mall while Carter got back into her car and went home. She was shaken up and her shoulder felt like it was going to fall off, but she was ok, thanks to Tanis. Justine had also been so nice during the whole thing. Carter began thinking twice about the two of them.